The current CBA went into effect in March 2014 and runs through October 2021. However, both the league and the union have the right to opt out now, which would terminate the agreement after the 2019 season. Either side has until Oct. 31 to exercise that provision.

Quote:

The players, many of whom are with their overseas teams, have cast their ballots through an online voting process that was open from Oct. 14-21. Terri Jackson, the WNBPA director of operations, said the votes will be reviewed and certified.

Quote:

If the players opt out, it will not impact the 2019 season. But a new CBA would need to be in place before the 2020 season, which is also an Olympic year.

Quote:

The WNBA will be replacing the bulk of its leadership. In light of that, Jackson said the union offered to extend the opt-out date past Oct. 31, possibly giving the league a chance to get a president in place before a decision was made. WNBA officials declined the extension.

Jackson also requested the players have some substantive input on the next WNBA president, such as meeting with the finalists for the job. She said league officials indicated to her it was open to that.

If the players want a say who becomes president, I could see that helping a candidate like Catchings.

_________________Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

First, the WNBPA. As the year's gone on, what we haven't heard from Terri Jackson on down is anything approaching a straightforward, easy-to-understand set of asks, either general or specific. This is a mistake on two fronts, in my opinion. One, it makes it difficult to rally the players around a set of easily digestible improvements to their working conditions. Two, it makes it hard for the public to get behind the players, and even easier for critics to incorrectly define and then knock down those strawman demands from the players.

Quote:

As for the league, it continues to make a distinction between the money it spends on the WNBA and the G League, for instance. The former is treated as losses, the latter as investment. And while I have long complained about the economic problem inherent in measuring women's sports against men's sports purely by economic outcomes—that is to say, looking at revenue without evaluating how much is invested in the front end—the reverse is, of course, true as well.

Quote:

To the NBA's enormous credit, the WNBA is very much part of the overall fabric of the NBA, just as the G League is, more with each passing year. So every time the NBA tries to separate the two, treating the G League like a part of the league and the WNBA as some black sheep that should be grateful for whatever losses the league incurs on its behalf, it sends a message that is unhelpful at best, and ignores the remarkable benefits the league has realized from its significant investment over the first two decades of the league as well.

Like I‘ve said before, having people “highly qualified” academically as WNBA president hasn’t really worked. It might be time to try something different. Passion over academics. Coming from a place where the candidate truly knows what the players are going through. As far as Borders went, her most important qualification was to be on the Duke board of regents. It was a lazy hire for Silver, most likely because he doesn’t really care to make the effort. “Oh, while we’re here.... how would you like to be the WNBA president?” Lazy, lazy, lazy.

If the players want a say in the WNBA president, do you think they’ll comb through resumes looking for the candidate with the best academics? How naive is that? They’re going to want somebody who actually cares and wants to make a difference. No more Silver puppets.

_________________Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

Would the WNBA players agree not to opt out of the CBA if Catchings were named president? That is the only way I could see her getting the job. The president is the mouthpiece of ownership. Installing Catchings could be good PR but I don't see her working in that role. If she were given the position she would be shadowed by someone else who would be directly accountable to both the WNBA owners and to the NBA.

The current CBA went into effect in March 2014 and runs through October 2021. However, both the league and the union have the right to opt out now, which would terminate the agreement after the 2019 season. Either side has until Oct. 31 to exercise that provision.

Looks like today is the day that the decision is supposed to be announced. With all the talk, tweets, posts, etc being made by the players it would be pretty shocking if they didn't opt out.

The current CBA went into effect in March 2014 and runs through October 2021. However, both the league and the union have the right to opt out now, which would terminate the agreement after the 2019 season. Either side has until Oct. 31 to exercise that provision.

Looks like today is the day that the decision is supposed to be announced. With all the talk, tweets, posts, etc being made by the players it would be pretty shocking if they didn't opt out.

When there's an opt-out in these things it's just generally pretty likely that the CBA is going to end there. Usually one side or the other feels like they should be doing better than they've found themselves doing under the deal in the previous years.

Considering all the public talk about their financial position in the last year, it'll be pretty telling about what the players saw in the numbers they were given by the league if they don't opt out. It'd be a pretty loud statement of "shit, maybe what we're getting right now is actually about the best we can hope for and have the league continue to actually exist".

Silver said in a recent article that chartered flights “aren’t in the cards”, so I’m seeing minor concessions at best in a new CBA. Maybe increase the cap about $10K and increase individual max about $2K. I would push for a guarantee of no compacted season like the last one (which probably created a lot of the recent dissension). Limit it to something like to a minimum 100-day season rather than the 90-day of this past season. Consider opening up Mondays for play, if the players will think it’ll help. Also, I would look into dropping the core limit from 4 to 2. Maybe drop the time to RFA from 4 years to 3.

_________________Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

Looks like ESPN got it wrong. Tomorrow is the day - not today according to the CBA:

Expiration Date.
This Agreement shall be effective from March 5, 2014 and shall continue in full force and effect through October 31, 2021 or, if later, on the day following the final playoff game of the 2021 Season; provided that the WNBA and the Players Association shall each have the option, exercisable by providing written notice on or before November 1, 2018, to terminate this Agreement effective on October 31, 2019 or, if later, on the day following the final playoff game of the 2019 Season.

“We believe in women, we believe in the WNBA, we believe in the WNBPA, and we believe that, wherever the finish line is for this movement that we’re a part of…… we’re just not there yet,” WNBA Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike wrote in an essay on The Players Tribune. “We’re opting out because women’s basketball’s potential is infinite. We’re opting out because there’s still a lot more work to be done. And we’re betting on ourselves to do it.”

Quote:

“What we’re discussing and fighting for is a lot more intricate than simply pay us more. It’s a lot deeper than that. It’s infrastructural. Why is this so hard for people to understand? It’s kind of business 101. You’re not going to make money off a product that you don’t invest in. We are the product. The W is the product. And the investment is not there.”

I dunno.... seems like there’s been a generous up front investment to have the WNBA exist in the first place. It’s up to the players to produce a mainstream product everyone wants to watch. Shouldn’t any additional investment be in advertising, not necessarily into players’ pocketbooks?

Quote:

The league’s leading scorer, Liz Cambage, provided SB Nation a laundry list of non-pay items she’d like to see improved. The list included: marketing around the stars, marketing the teams like teams instead of billboards, spacing out the schedule, and improved travel conditions.

I don’t know why Cambage is writing out demands. Does she feel like a representative of the WNBA now because she recently achieved a record scoring game? I’m a little surprised she didn’t say anything about the refereeing. One thing about Cambage. She’s not content unless she’s complaining about something.

Quote:

After three seasons in charge, Borders left her post to become the CEO of Time’s Up in early October. It came to the surprise of many, as Borders was well respected by the players.

She was? I thought the players now wanting a say in who is president would reflect poorly in Borders.

_________________Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

I think it's a good thing the players opted out. An increase in the salary cap would be good--don't know about tying it to revenue, as is revenue goes down the owners could then lower the cap. Increasing max and rookie values. Charter flights aren't going to happen---at least not in this and likely not the next CBA.

Phasing in an increase in the percentage of basketball related revenue that goes to the players is something I would hope the players fight for.

A longer season needs to happen--34 games is just WAY too short--this isn't soccer.

Hopefully both the players and owners will act in good faith and sometime next year we'll have a CBA. At least this won't have any bearing on the 2019 season.

Reading this, it doesn’t sound too demanding. She said she wants more transparency on what the owners make. So instead of being grateful to the owners for keeping the league going despite it not being a great investment, there’s this sense that the owners must be cheating them. I dunno.... doesn’t the trend of some owners wanting to sell give some indication that they’re not making money? Ownership of Ogwumike’s team just changed hands not too long ago.

She also spent a nice chunk of the article talking about how the seating isn’t comfortable on airlines. I don’t see why that needs to be a CBA item. Can’t the team rearrange tickets so the taller players get the aisle seats? I guess I don’t get that one either.

_________________Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

A longer season needs to happen--34 games is just WAY too short--this isn't soccer.

When are you going to play these games? Over half the league still makes most of their money overseas, and often miss chunks of preseason due to an overlap (or get barely five minutes of rest between the two seasons at either end). Also, the players are already complaining about the compactness of the schedule and the travel demands caused by it (so shoving more games into the same space of time doesn't seem viable).

On top of that, the league's only going to want more games if the teams actually make money from each one. The TV deal isn't going to go up if they play 40 instead of 34, and neither are most sponsorship deals. Are the players going to play more games for the same money they're already working for? Because if they're not, where's the extra money coming from? I really doubt we're going up from 34 - I don't see where the appetite for it would be, or the room.

It boils down to higher salaries. If they are making a decent wage where they don't have to go overseas, then it makes a longer season possible. If the players made more than 22% of basketball related revenue, salaries would go up and more of them wouldn't have to go overseas, so you get a longer season. A longer season means more ticket revenue, concession revenue, parking revenue, more games available for a TV package.

I'm not saying jump from 34 to 82 in 2020, but 34 games is and always has been too short of the season. It's seen in some circles as not really being a legit season length. Though phasing up to say 50 or 60 games and running the season with the NBA could work. Yes, there would be competition for eyeball and dollars with the NBA, but if the NBA really got serious about investing in the league and not just treating it like a rounding error in their marketing budget, perhaps it could work. Even staying with starting in April and playing through to August/September with 3 games a week can get you 60 games.

This is all predicated on the NBA being a willing partner in growing the league. The teams need to do their part, but there needs to be a much higher investment from the NBA in both salaries and marketing to both the male 18-34 demographic as well as to women and LGBT community.

The NBA shot the WNBA in the foot many years ago and put the W about 20-years behind where they should be. It's fixable, if the parties involved really want to fix it.